Cruisepucks

We stayed at the EXchange 2 years ago and loved it. Great breakfast in their restaurant. It’s an easy walk to Canada Place, downhill from the hotel but as you are staying post cruise, it is a slight uphill. It is also easy to get on the Sky train from the hotel to travel to the airport.

I can’t recommend any restaurants in the area as we had dinner in Kitsilano but hopefully someone local will chime in re restaurants. 

DH and I dined in Rudi’s for the first time this past May on the Nieuw Statendam as we had OBC to use up.

One and done for us. In the first hour we’d only received a glass of water and one glass of wine each. All told, it took 2 1/2 hrs to complete our meal. Our server had only one other table for 2 so he wasn’t overly busy. I was so looking forward to the Dover Sole as I’d frequently read on cc about how good it was. It was ok but the fish dishes served in the mdr were far superior on this voyage. DH had the seafood grill. The scallops were raw in the centre and had a strong fishy taste to them. 
 

We did report our issues on the Navigator. The next day,  while having lunch in the pg, the manager approached us to discuss our experience and did offer a complimentary dinner at Rudi’s that evening, the last night of the voyage. We declined as we like to dine in the mdr on the last night to thank our wonderful servers. 

Good day,

We have a couple cruises coming up, the first being 14 days on the Nieuw Statendam. During that cruise, I'll visit the Grand Dutch Cafe and Explorations Cafe for coffee/tea/hot chocolate probably 30-36 times. In the past, I have always got my drink in a take-away cup with a lid. This cruise, I'm considering bringing a travel style coffee mug in the hope that the cafe staff will make my hot brews in that and eliminate the use of 3 dozen single use coffee cups and lids.

Does anyone know if the cafe staff is allowed to make drinks for, or will allow passengers to bring their own reusable cups/mugs for their hot drinks? 

I know that HAL has been using no plastic in the take away cups and lids; that's a plus, of course. But if passengers can use their own cups, not only will the help with the reduction of waste, they also reduce the cost for HAL. 

Thanks to anyone who has experience with this question.

Keep well. Happy cruising.

Good afternoon,

Glad to read that so many people are taking advantage of this benefit and getting their educator OBCs approved. I just applied today and also got approved. We are hoping this gets automatically applied to our existing booking.

1. Could anyone let us know, please, if we have to go through the application/verification process for every future cruise, or does the verification stay in the HAL system? 

2. If HAL does keep this information on file, do we need to ask (or have our TA ask) for the OBC to be applied each time we book a cruise?

Thanks in advance for your help with this.

Travel safely.

We boarded the Koningsdam in Vancouver  in April.

Both DH and I used our electronic Ontario issued QR code that we'd saved to our phones.

No problems at all. There was no need for a printed copy although we had brought one just in case.

Good day,

We, too, did a similar cruise with Uniworld in early 2019. Our cruise itinerary was actually 1 week from Luxor to Aswan to Luxor. This was preceded and followed by a couple days in Cairo. Cairo to Luxor and back were via short flights. Very good hotel in Cairo - Four Seasons on the Nile R.

We were supposed to be on the Sphinx, but the fire delayed her launch, so we were put on the Tosca, which was very good. The staff was great for service. Food and accommodation was very good. The wifi was spotty some days requiring multiple logons, but that was a minor annoyance.

Our guide was very good - an educated Egyptologist who gave just the right amount of information and never hesitated to respond to questions.

Our larger group was divided into smaller day tour groups; ours was 22.

We took both optional excursions, one to Abu Simbel and the dawn hot air balloon trip over the Valley of the Kings and close by sites. Both were well worth the time and expense. 

One of our group asked the chef what camel tasted like; the next day, the chef went to a local market and acquired a camel roast which he cooked for us. 

We had also added the pre-extension to Jordan. Also, an excellent choice.

During our trip, I was able to post daily on our blog. Here is the link, if you think the information might be useful for you. Warning - the blog is photo heavy.

https://canucksinegypt.blogspot.com/   (Use the menu icon, top left, to see the earlier posts)

Enjoy your trip.

Salaam

Greetings from the Koningsdam heading for Vancouver. After final payment, the itinerary was changed by HAL dropping a visit at the port of Victoria. No other port was substituted. 

In the past, when a port stop was cancelled, we have always received a refund for the port fee/tax we paid.

We asked about this at the desk and were told no refund would be issued which seemed strange and a change of normal practice.

Does anyone have any knowledge of the policy on refunding port fees/taxes in this type of situation?

Thanks

We'll have quite a number of Canadians on the Koningsdam departing Vancouver for Hawaii next month. Yesterday, while announcing a major itinerary change, HAL also sent the following to passengers embarking in Vancouver on April 10:

All guests must register with Hawaii Safe Travels (travel.hawaii.gov) prior to your cruise. Fill in your personal information, enter your cruise in the "Trips" section and upload your proof of vaccination in the "Apply for Exemption/Exception from Quarantine" section. Please print or save the QR code you receive to your mobile device as you will be required to present it at cruise check-in. For assistance, visit https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel/faqs/.

Seems to be reasonable until one goes to the Gov of Hawaii travel website and gets this posted message in a banner atop the page:

Hawaii Safe Travels restrictions will end on 03/25/2022 at 11:59pm (HST). Travelers arriving on 03/26/2022 and beyond will no longer be required to complete a Safe Travels application to enter Hawaii.

For more information, visit https://hawaiicovid19.com/travel/  or https://ets.hawaii.gov/travelhelp/ .   

Has anyone any idea of why HAL would ask for everyone to fill out this information for a cruise that does not arrive in Hawaii until April 17, more than 3 weeks after the Hawaii government is ending the covid-related travel procedures? 

Thanks for any information you can provide.

If plans work out as we hope, we will be on a HAL ship this year on Easter Sunday. (It will be a port day for us.)

Would those of you who have HAL Easter experience please let us know if HAL does anything special for Easter? While we've been on a dozen or so HAL cruises, we've never been on board for any of the traditional holiday festivities. 

Thanks for passing along any information about Easter on HAL ships. We are so looking forward to dusting off the passports and getting on a ship again.

Enjoy the weekend.

Hi, Vino 100,

Glad the blog was of use. We used Uniworld on that trip. Had a couple disappointing hiccups with them before the trip, but once we arrived, everything went smoothly. Good hotels and busses. Air travel from Jordan to Egypt and within Egypt was well done. Tours were super, as you can see. 

Hope you get there sometime.

We did a similar trip in very early 2020 before the pandemic took hold. A week in Jordan followed by 12 days in Egypt which included a week long Nile cruise. 

If anyone is interested, we created a fairly photo heavy blog with posts just about daily since we had good wifi access daily. We added a few more posts and photos after we got home.

Overall, an excellent trip to a very interesting part of the world. We were fortunate to have world class guides in both Jordan and Egypt - personable and knowledgeable. We are happy to answer anyone's questions if they post them.

Here, FYI, is a link to our blog posts.

https://canucksinegypt.blogspot.com/2020/02/to-do-lists-weather-reports-packing-and.html

Enjoy your weekend. Stay positive, but test negative!

Salaam

@highscar

Thanks for the information. I found the listing of the liquor stores just after I posted. The provincial website was only listing the malls or perhaps I missed the section listing the LCBO's.

I did go to my local LCBO , not so much for the test kits but to stock up for the holidays (although it will be just be DH, DS and myself). The store had many signs through out saying they had run out of all kits. I'll have to try first thing in the morning.

@Vict0riannOntario is giving out 2 million rapid test kits. With a population of 14.5 million, the chance of getting a kit will be slim. According to the government website, tomorrow they will be available at just 5 locations, 1 in Toronto, 1 in Kingston, 2 in Peterborough and 1 in Mississauga. Reportedly next week they'll be available at the 100 of the liquor stores. Those locations haven't been disclosed yet. 

I've never been to Bora Bora but have often dreamed of staying in one of those over water bungalows with meals delivered in an outrigger canoe. It will probably continue to be a dream as DH is not fond of tropical destinations. For those who posted pictures, thank you. It looks beautiful.

Many thanks to @dfishfor the recipes each day with all of the variations. It has been a real help with putting a variety of meals on the table these past 19 months. I had pork chops defrosting in the fridge this morning so I did the second version of today's recipe-fabulous. I made a few tweaks to the recipe as I often do, mostly because I didn't have all the ingredients on hand. So it was fresh thyme for the sage and Tarragon vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar. Once I finished warming the chops in the onion/apple mixture, I removed them and thickened the sauce with a cornstarch slurry and added a teaspoon of apple jelly for a little gloss to the sauce. Delicious and 3 thumbs up from DH. The apple onion mixture would work well over a pork tenderloin too.

Sending good thoughts to those who are facing challenges in their lives.

@Horizon chaser 1957

Wishing you safe travels home

For your DS and DBil.

For those affected by the flooding and mudslides in BC and as a result of the multiple road closures  need to transit through the US,  are waived from the PCR testing requirement by the Canada Border Service Agency. Also the government is reportedly announcing this afternoon that Canadians who are in the US for less than 72 hrs will not need to have a PCR test. Stay tuned for more details this afternoon.

Stay safe.

@kazu

So true. If the worse that happens is they lose their car, it is a blessing.

A minute either way, they could have easily been caught in the landslides.

My eldest DS lives in Kamloops and frequently travels around BC for both business and pleasure. Fortunately he stayed in Kamloops this past weekend and was safe from the floods although can't go anywhere now except by flying. But as a geotechnical engineer his services will be in great demand as BC transportation evaluate the integrity of the roads.

My niece and her BF were one of the many affected by the terrible floods and landslides in BC last Sunday. They were driving back from the BC interior to Vancouver when they were trapped on the highway between 2 landslides. They spent the night and most of the following day in their car and were evacuated late Monday afternoon via military helicopter to an evacuation centre. Today they were able to fly via a float plane from a community 8 km from the evacuation centre to Vancouver. Not sure when/if they will get the vehicle back.

Prayers for all who continue to be affected by this terrible historic event.

Sorry there was a typo in my response.

www dot halfacts dot com

The room layout is different than usual but the verandah is large.

See the photos of 4045 and 4046 from the Koningsdam on www dot half acts dot com under the pinnacle class tab . They are the equivalent state rooms of 4043  on the Rotterdam 

Welcome home Ann.

I too enjoyed your "live" report and thank you for allowing those of us not quite ready for overseas travel to live vicariously through your postings. It gave us hope for future cruises and international travel so much so that we booked a Circle Hawaii cruise for April on the K and were able to snag that wonderful verandah suite on deck 4 with the large verandah that you and Pat had in the fall 2019.

I happened to be in Walmart today and noticed a sign that they are doing antigen tests with results in 15 mins for $19.97. I know you are in a different province but it might be worth a call to your local Walmart.

Sandy and Joe

@VMax1700

Thank you very much for posting and confirming that HIA does count towards our onboard spending.

Our next planned cruise (fingers crossed it will happen) will bring us to 4 star with the HIA points.

Thanks, everyone,

VMax1700, please keep us posted when you see your updated Mariner account to confirm whether or not the HIA added credits as a Mariner. (We followed & enjoyed your postings from the Eurodam. Thanks)

I have spoken to HAL today and was told that since the HIA promo is an element of the cruise fare, that extra (HIA) cost is not eligible for is not eligible for Mariner Society points/credits. I know that the answers from HAL sometimes vary depending on who's at their end of the line. 

Cheers!

Good day, 

Apologies if this has been addressed before. 

We are considering resuming cruising next year and have been pricing some various HAL itineraries getting both the standard fare as well as a fare that includes the Have It All promotion pricing.

Does someone know for certain if the Have It All promotion fee would qualify for Mariner Society points? 

It seems that, if one were to purchase the HIAP inclusions on board, those costs would qualify - drinks, excursions, WiFi, specialty restaurants - so it would seem somewhat logical that the HIAP fee would also qualify for Mariner points. Please advise.

No information on this is included on the Mariner FAQ page. 

Thanks in advance for any definitive you can provide.

Happy sailing.

So those of you who are reluctant to travel to Jordan due to the heat, please don't discount travel due to the heat. Take a look  at the average temperatures and pick a time that the temperatures suit what you enjoy.  You'll find the spring and fall offer comfortable travel temperatures.The spring has more precipitation than the fall. We traveled in February for 6 days and had a strong shower as we left Petra and more showers the night we stayed at Sun City Wadi Rum but otherwise it was dry.

DH and I toured Jordan in mid February 2020 as an extension tour ahead of our Nile River cruise trip and just prior to "you know what" that shut down travel. We choose February to avoid the heat of the Egypt portion which worked perfectly as we had great sunny, warm but not hot temperatures  in Egypt. Jordan, being farther north was cooler. My pictures of Petra are similar to those already posted so will not repeat the pictures. The day we toured Petra we were dressed in light winter jackets and our Bedouin guide wore a heavy sweat shirt covered by a down vest. We're from Canada so those that live in warmer climates, think jackets for Alaska.

We also visited Aqaba. Aqaba is farther south and being on the coast, has a milder climate. We enjoyed a self guided walking tour of the market and spice market area followed by a patio happy hour with the other 6 travellers in our tour. Temperatures were most comfortable for short sleeves and capris.

Would highly recommend a trip to Jordan.

As @kazusaid, most 70 plus in Ontario are well over 4 weeks since their first vaccine. Vaccines for 80+ started mid March and 70+ in late March (92 yr old DM March 13, 70 something DH March 30) making their second doses due in July.

While Ontario has announced that the provincial booking site will open Monday for second doses for 80+, half of the 34 public health units in Ontario do not use the provincial booking system. They have their  own booking systems and not all of them will be opening bookings for second doses on Monday. It depends  on the supply and appointment availability in their area. For those that had their first dose shortly after their age group opened, the second dose will move forward by 2-4 weeks at most.

Still it's an improvement over the 16 weeks interval and I'm happy about that.